BioHazard: System Down
by Draygon
Summary: Based on ideas from the Resident Evil original, BioHazard


BioHazard System Down  
Something moved.. A shadow, soft and darting over the mashed remains of a tipped burning car some twenty feet away, and at the same time, howling filled the night air, like that of the wind, yet like that of a wolf. Moonlight was the only light to be seen, the street lamps had been extinguished by a surge of power two minutes earlier.  
  
Josh turned and ran as the howling grew louder, into a nearby ally-way, and down a small, dark stairway into the shadows. A large crashing sound echoed through the empty ally like a crack of thunder as he kicked a large door, leading through the back of a restaurant, off its hinges and down, onto the hard, stone tile flooring of the restaurant kitchen.  
  
He frantically searched the kitchen for a knife as the window came smashing in, suddenly there was a growling sound coming from over the counter before him, Josh took hold of a butchers knife that lay on the side. Like a flash of bright light Josh was down on the stone tiles in a pool of blood, yet it wasn't his own blood. He stood slowly and looked down to find, on the floor where he'd been knocked down to, the seemingly already decayed body of a rottweiler, with the large butchers knife in the side of its head, blood oozing onto the tiles.  
  
A shrill ring sounded through the restaurant, the telephone. But who would be left alive? who would be calling a restaurant at two in the morning if they were alive?  
  
Josh answered the nearest phone he could find which happened to be in the actual restaurant area  
  
Josh: "Uh.. H-Hello?"  
Unknown: "Hey.. Who are you? and where's Sam?"  
Josh: "Names Josh.. An there's nobody else here.. They're all.. well.. Dead.."  
Unknown: "Dead already?! God Fucking Damnit!"  
Josh: "Everyone in the place is dead.."  
Unknown: "Listen.. Josh.. Head over to the garage in the north of town.. If there's anyone there when you get there ask for Chris Burton, that's me, I should be in the back.. Actually I should be in the back now.. But as per usual I'm late.."  
  
Josh: "Ok..."  
Chris: "Arghhhhhhhh!! The Fuck Is?"  
Josh: "What's going on?"  
Shotgun sound booms down the phone  
Chris: "Shit.. Ahh"  
  
Growling and screaming could be heard as the line cuts off leaving the no-dial-tone beeping to its-self.  
  
  
  
Josh, now pale in the face, let the phone drop to the side of the booth onto a panel, making a soft, wooden clunk as it connected. He felt as-though he would throw-up and headed for the exit to the street.  
  
Whilst going for the door he noticed a vast, empty dining hall and could not help but finding himself staring at the mass of bodies that littered it. Finally gathering the strength to move, he stepped out of the large creaking oak door, and on to the hard, concrete of the paving stones of the sidewalk. There was nothing to be seen, no light, except that of the late moonshine, no people, except the corpse' that were almost everywhere imaginable.  
  
The eerie silence was broken only by that of his footsteps, that echoed through the wind and off the nearby buildings, into the darkness, of the deserted street. Josh stopped, then turned to a store window, examining the news article stuck with tape on the inside of the broken store window.  
  
Daily Chronicle - June 19th  
'Terror and chaos have struck our fair city this evening as reports of sightings of strange inhuman creatures roaming the streets has come flooding in to the police stations and news rooms, citizens are also reporting hundreds of missing persons, we advise everyone to keep on alert and to avoid any unnecessary conflict with these, things.'  
  
"Strange", Josh thought to himself, tightening the glove on his right hand, while listening to the silence of the quiet area.  
  
Moaning interrupted the brief moment of peace as what appeared to be a walking corpse was clumsily making its way across the crossroads up ahead, where the traffic lights, without any traffic to guide, flickered into life every couple of seconds, showing the electricity grid had been rebooted at the power station.  
  
It seemed the city rocked as the church bells rang, sounding the arrival of 3am, Josh had been walking for quite some time before coming to rest on a park bench nearby the canal. Just as he stood he caught glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. A body, a military man, no younger than 19, arm pulled out away from socket, deep slash across the back of the neck, at least he didn't feel too much pain in his death, unlike so many others, In the soldiers hands, a semi-automatic rifle, almost fully loaded, three clips hooked on its belt.  
  
Josh felt bad about it, but if he were to survive, he would need them, it wasn't as if the soldier would need them now. He took the rifle and the clips from the body. Just as he set his foot down at the top of a small flight of stairs, there came a deep hissing, breathing sound from overhead, yet there was nothing to be seen, but again, it could be heard, louder, deeper.  
  
He stopped, something was walking along the wall to his left, just up out of sight, first he heard it, then. He saw it. The claws of a creature that couldn't exist, big, the size of a full grown man. But the resemblance ended there, it was so impossible that he could only see it in pieces. The inflamed, purplish flesh of the naked, long-limbed creature that clung to the wall, the puffed grey-white tissue of the partially exposed brain, the scar-rimmed holes, where the eyes should have been.  
Josh ran, quickly as possible from it, right into the dead end, of another, twisted ally-way. There it was, it had followed him, but what would it do? what was next?  
  
The creature stopped, in the small entrance of the ally, there, looking at him, through those cold, scar-rimmed holes. A shudder shifted its way down Josh's back he didn't move, the creature just growled at him. He'd had enough now, Josh cocked the rifle, lay six shots right in the centre of the creatures head, into the area of exposed tissue, its brain. The creature hissed loudly as the six shots hit, its lance-like tongue tasting the air for the final time, as it lowered its head, and dropped, into a heap on the tarmac wriggling, then, nothing. The creature lay there, dead.  
  
The wind howled through the night once again, the sun on the horizon, early rising, but would the light bring safety? even if it didn't Josh could now see, in detail, the destruction of the park as he entered the smashed gates into the open.  
  
  
  
Thirst overwhelmed Josh, but he darn't drink from the water fountains that were dotted all around, like the bodies, except not as much in the park, then, as if it were a normal being, one of the bodies stood clumsily, once again Josh opened fire on it with the riffle as it fell, and stood, then just lay motionless over the side of a fountain. He walked up to it, looking over the bullet-riddled corpse. The head had caved in like a rotting pumpkin, teeth shattered, gummy flecks of tissue hanging from what was left of its torso. The waving hand was no longer connected to the rotting arm, the radius and ulna blown away. It dangled there like some obscene decoration.  
Disgusted by what he'd seen, Josh thought "If I'm to survive this I'll need more than what I have here". With this, and a quick glance over the town map in the park, he set off for the nearest gunsmith.  
  
Josh quickly found himself away from the park, onto the open roads once more as the sun could be seen now over the buildings in the distance. He turned on to another long road with shops stretching down it on either side, there it was, third store down on the right hand side as you walk south towards the roundabout.  
  
'Gren's Gunsmith' the neon blue sign in the window lit, but dimly flashing. Josh pounded hard on the wooden panels on the door, no answer, deserted? like the rest of the city, a buzzer sounded, the door, it had been clicked and unlocked from within, the door opened slowly, the head of a single barrel shotgun pointed out.  
  
Josh: "Don't shoot, I'm a human."  
  
Unknown: "Just a precaution, just a precaution."  
  
The door opened fully and a shadowy figure stood on the inside, gesturing Josh in quickly with the gun as he scanned the area outside.  
  
Unknown: "Well.. I see you've survived so long, I suppose you're here as a few others have, to equip yourself, if that's the case, what do you need?"  
  
Josh: "That aint exactly the question, its' what do you have?"  
  
The man let out a small laugh as he lifted his hand to a switch on the wall, the lights flickered into life, Josh knew him at this, he'd seen him on television a few nights earlier promoting his stores, the figure was Gren, the store owner.  
  
Gren: "Anything you see here, anything you don't I don't got."  
  
Josh looked around the small store, gun jackets to the left of the door, shotguns to the right through another door into a small room set aside for this kind of weapon, katana' in the window. Handguns lined the back shelves above the counter, below these were rifles of every kind and style possibly imaginable.  
  
First things first, a handgun, small, heavy, strong. Beretta was the first choice, and in Josh's eyes, the only choice. Secondly, ammunition, and lots of it. Gren who was still clutching tight to his gun, was not at all surprised by Josh's choice of weaponry and racked it up as fast as the cash machine would, Josh took a wad of cash from his back pocket giving Gren just over the amount due.  
Gren buzzed the door again as Josh stepped into the cold morning air, his breath coming out in steam as the wind blew passed, the clouds setting in like those of a storms, black and wide covering the sky for as far as could be seen.  
  
  
  
  
The gunsmith's door locked up behind Josh, just as a clash of thunder sounded overhead echoing into the distance and back again as lightning lit up the sky. Rain was coming down now, cold against the warmth of Josh's trench-coat, as he continued to follow the road towards the centre square Josh noticed something coming at him fast, he blinked, but as he strained his eyes to try and figure out what it was it had gone.  
  
  
Josh ignored what he had seen as the city seemed to be turning into a barren land, the only problem he had with ignoring what he had seen is not knowing what it was, that seemed to be getting on Josh's nerves more than the rain was, he had no idea what was going on, or what was happening to the normal citizens of the city.  
  
As Josh turned a corner through an archway something very large and green leapt out infront of him, its gaping wide mouth with a mean set of jaws hungry for a taste of human flesh. It jumped up to come down on him with its large claws just ready to rip him to shreds, just as it got within sight, the barrel of the baretta clicked back again and again pummelling the green jumping creature against the wall of the arch until it let out a whimpering yelp and a loud scream which seemed to shudder the stone archway, another, Josh caught a glimpse of it in the light of a lightning flash, once again the dim archway lit up with orange flame as he emptied a full clip into the second of these green creature.  
  
Josh walked on, now seemingly at home in this environment but at the same time far from home. gunshots sounded now, Josh heard them clear, even though they sounded far, Josh ran following the sounds of the shots of a handgun repeatedly going off until nothing, then, a piercing scream. There He turned a corner.  
  
Josh stopped. the Creature that had cut him off in the ally some time ago, "more than one?" thought Eric as he shot at it. Josh dodged its long tongue as he jumped up a small flight of stairs to his right, front-flipping off the side wall down to where the body was. Gren, the gunsmith store owner, head twisted on a 360°, large gash down his chest, missing a leg.  
  
Josh moved backwards slowly as the creature made its way towards him, he backed up, almost tripping on the first of the steps. He stopped raising the 9mm up to face the creature, it was as if it could see him, the creature stopped, just over the body of the gunsmith.  
  
The creature's rounded head dropped back, the wide jaw opening, a ropy stream of dark drool pouring out and splattering over what was left of Gren. It extended its tongue, eely and pink, the rough surface shimmering wetly as it slithered out. The creature opened its mouth again and screamed as it lurched forwards at Josh, the click of the 9mm seemed to come above everything, the worst sound you could hear, an empty clip. The creature pushed Josh backwards onto the damp, hard edge of a set of stairs, rupturing his spine against it as the creature dug into his torso with its large right claw.  
  
Ray stood in the darkness of the shadows, having followed Josh from the bridge, cradling a Magnum in his right hand.  
  
A shot, ripped through what was now silence. The beasts head exploded, torn from its shoulders. Another crack, and another. Josh could just make out a dark figure step from the shadows clutching the unmistakeable shape of a Magnum gun, Josh couldn't see correctly now, just made things out as the figure came closer.  
  
Ray: "There is only one thing more I can do for you Josh. I came too late. Forgive me."  
  
The crack of the Rays Magnum shot off echoing deafeningly into the distance as Ray just misses Josh's head, taking out his shoulder, leaving Josh lay there, propped up against a stair, harmless?  
  
  
Ray turned away slowly and gradually began to walk away, into the shadows, once again.  
  
Ray leaped over a small barbed fence, landing in a crouch with a slight thud and rustle of leaves on stones, looking to his left to a set of rail tracks passing parallel the clock-tower. He dove another bush, rolling once on a grass verge, staying low in a crouch. Looking about his person as he stood slowly, sighting a rusty, old rail travel cart, quickly glancing about again, Ray made a run for the cart, stumbling in a puddle, tripping to the floor hard, a gun shot clattering through the air, an Umbrella soldier, cradling a stealth rifle, walking slowly from the dimly illuminated office.  
  
Soldier, aiming his rifle at Ray: "Hmm, civilian? alive?"  
  
Ray: "Back the fuck up"  
  
Solider: "Ah! Oh, Sorry about that, didn't think any of the civilians would be alive now"  
  
Ray: "I'm not a civilian, and as for alive, barely"  
  
Soldier: "Hah, get yourself up, I'll fix you up an uncontaminated drink"  
  
Ray, clambering to his feet: "I don't think I have time for this"  
  
Soldier: "You're probably right, but if you're thinking of taking that cart, I'd think again"  
  
Ray, dusting himself off, collecting his Magnum from the ground: "Oh?"  
  
Soldier: "It wont budge, we've tried"  
  
Ray: "We?"  
  
Solider: "Come, the office is secure, the area should be, lord knows how you got past out security"  
  
Ray: "I fear your security may be no more"  
  
Solider: "They're fine, well capable"  
  
Ray: "That so?"  
  
Solider: "Yeah, it is"  
  
Ray: "Very well, if you say so, those on the outskirts will no longer be in control of their actions however, the area I came in through was rather deserted, except for the 'Licker' and the odd civilian"  
  
Soldier: "A civilian? Alive?"  
  
Ray: "Infected"  
  
The soldier shook his head slowly, turning away from Ray: "Come on, I'll introduce you to the team"  
  
Ray nodded his head once: " Sure"  
  
The solider shook off the rain from his plastic mac, showering most of the desk with water, hanging the over-throw up on a coat-stand.  
  
Ray followed closely behind the solider, pulling his denim jacket up around him, as the wind chilled through the gap of the door as he closed it behind him.  
  
The office was lit by a lamp on a pine wood desk, the wire dangled off the back of the desk, to the floor, and under the panel on the wall, white shutters on the window were closed on a slant, the light from the lamp flickered over everything, the object that caught Rays eye the most was the bookshelf in the corner, it was somehow, unreal.  
  
The soldier instantly regained Rays attention, by slamming his fist into the desk, Ray turned quickly to him, his eyes blinking once from surprise, but otherwise showing he was not startled by the event.  
  
Soldier: "Take a seat.  
  
Ray does so, placing his Magnum on the desk before him.  
  
Soldier: "First things first, name?"  
  
Ray: "Rayvon Morris"  
  
Solider: "Why are you roaming the streets at 5am when the better idea would be to leave town?"  
  
Ray: "Codes say nobody is to leave the city limits after an outbreak of contaminated air is released from the laboratory, also, I have to get to the city centre, the hospital contains means to create the antiviral liquid to cure my"  
  
A loud humming from overhead interrupts the conversation, the soldier grabbing quickly at the nearest weapon, Rays magnum, Ray places his hand firmly down on the soldiers, as the soldier tries to take it, the gun sliding across the desk, onto the floor.  
  
Soldier: "Don't you understand?, they'll kill us both if they think we're contaminated!"  
  
Ray: "They're not allowed to kill me, they might you, but I however, am out ranking both them, and you."  
  
Soldier: "Wh--"  
  
The window crashes through before the soldier can finish speaking, shards of glass and shutter shatter around them, a built man wearing mostly radioactive-protective clothing stands in the opening, dressed from head to toe in black, another joining him, standing to his side. Both members of the 'Clean-Up Crew' stood to attention as Ray pushes the chair from under him , standing to attention himself.  
  
Ray: "At ease Assholes"  
  
Both Agents stand at ease, rifles hand low to their sides, the commander with two rifles, clutching one as another Agent steps up, relieving the commander of the second rifle.  
  
Commander: "Rayvon, Sir, there was a second security breach at the facility, several of the captured species have escaped, that being the least of our problems."  
  
The Commander sighs, lowering his head steadily  
  
Commander: "Sir, the A.B.O.W. have devised a way to mutate beyond that of our experimentals" 


End file.
